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Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Tina’s Top 10 Memorable Sketches of 2018

3/27/18 Amazon Spheres

I have a few year-end traditions on this blog, and one is to
review my most memorable sketches of the year. As always, these are not
necessarily my “best” or “favorite” sketches; they are ones that evoke the
strongest memories and remind me of what I love so much about sketching. (Click
the title of the sketch to go to the original post and full-size images.)

Exploring and sketching inside Amazon’s remarkable Spheres was
certainly one of my most memorable experiences this year. It lived up to all
the curiosity and wonderment it aroused during the years that the facility was
being built.

This sketch is one of my favorites in the neighborhood architecture series that I started this year. While
sketching, a contractor working inside spotted me, came out and chatted me up,
making it also one of the most memorable.

At the risk of revealing my fangirldom, I went to meet designer
Aaron Draplin (co-founder of Field Notes) when he was in town giving
a workshop. In addition to getting his autograph, of course I had to sketch
him.

El Capitan was the first of many wondrous sights I saw when I
first entered Yosemite National Park, and I couldn’t resist making a couple of
quick thumbnails. I intended to eventually get back to El Cap for a full-size
sketch, but I never did. The thumbnails, however, are enough to evoke the
memories of seeing that spectacular monolith.

I’ve mentioned his name often enough since July that you won’t be
surprised to hear that Eduardo Bajzek’s
workshop at the Porto symposium had a significant influence on my sketching. He
changed both the way I understand values and the way I use graphite.

A few days after Eduardo’s workshop, I was relaxing in the
small college town of Coimbra and got to practice what I had learned. After all
the excitement of the symposium, this quiet sketch turned out to be my most memorable
and evocative of my time in Portugal.

During a very short trip to St. Paul, I squeezed in a visit to the
brand new Bell Museum and met up with a few sketcher friends there. Chatting
with hilarious Roz Stendahlas I sketched
this humongous mammoth (which was made of the same fur as Chewbacca!) made the
morning very memorable, indeed.

Although there is usually nothing particularly memorable about
sketching at Zoka Coffee, my usual neighborhood coffee shop, this was the first
time I attempted this type of scene in ballpoint.
Sketched on the fifth day of InkTober, it made me realize that I could love
ballpoint after all, despite my doubts – and I ended the month with a whole new
respect for the lowly Bic.

I walk around Green Lake at least weekly year-round and, during
the good-weather months, I also sketch there frequently, so it’s easy to take for
granted the sights I see so regularly. On this fall day, I felt like I was
seeing its beauty with fresh eyes, and I was grateful to live so close to such
a treasure.

Whenever we visit Cannon Beach, Oregon, we stay right on the
beach in front of monolithic Haystack Rock. From Ecola State Park a mile or two
north, that ancient boulder looks like a tiny pebble in the context of the
mighty Pacific, and if I had seen myself standing next to Haystack, I would have
been smaller than a grain of sand. That trip to Cannon Beach was a celebration
of my 60th birthday, and sketching this scene made me feel both whole
and utterly insignificant in the larger picture. Life is good.